Seiji Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa(小澤 征爾,Ozawa Seiji), born September 1, 1935, is a Japanese conductor, known for his advocacy of modern composers and his work with the San Francisco Symphony and the Boston Symphony. He is the recipient of numerous international awards.

Biography

Early years

Ozawa was born on September 1, 1935, to Japanese parents in the city of Mukden, Manchukuo (now Shenyang, China). When his family returned to Japan in 1944, he began studying piano with Noboru Toyomasu, heavily studying the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. After graduating from the Seijo Junior High School in 1950, Ozawa sprained his finger in a rugby game. Unable to continue studying the piano, his teacher at the Toho Gakuen School of Music,Hideo Saito, brought Ozawa to a life-changing performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, which ultimately shifted his musical focus from piano performance to conducting.

History

Music festivals had been held in Salzburg at irregular intervals since 1877 held by the International Mozarteum Foundation, but were discontinued in 1910. Although a festival was planned for 1914, it was cancelled at the outbreak of World War I. In 1917, Friedrich Gehmacher and Heinrich Damisch formed an organization known as the Salzburger Festspielhaus-Gemeinde to establish an annual festival of drama and music, emphasizing especially the works of Mozart. At the close of the war in 1918, the festival's revival was championed by five men now regarded as its founders: the poet and dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the composer Richard Strauss, the scenic designer Alfred Roller, the conductor Franz Schalk, and the director Max Reinhardt, then intendant of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, who had produced the first performance of Hofmannsthal's Jedermann at the Berlin Zirkus Schumann arena in 1911.

The Festival

Sheherazade this day is yoursThe bearers of your gifts now all around you standThe finest silk made in the landIs waiting for your choiceIt shimmers at your handSheherazade your life is oneYou have today the sultan's loveThe people watch you step into the sunStalls and bars of every kindFood piled high on woven leaves for all to eatDrums and flutes at every turnThe music winding, twisting through the crowded streetsCaravans from far away bring people laughingPeople come to see the sultan in Baghdad todayScheherazade her name is knownHer tale is toldThe sultan let her life be sparedThe festival begins this dayTo celebrate her fameThe people sing her praiseStories sung, the crowds are dancingTo the music and the entertainment all the voices singThe people call to see the kingThe sultan smilesHis story just begunThe sultan and Sheherazade are oneScheherazade, ScheherazadeShe told him tales of sultans and talismans and ringsA thousand and one nights she sang to entertain her kingShe sings, Scheherazade, Sheherazade, Scheherazade, etc.